The invention relates to pruning or trimming apparatuses for trees or bushes, and in particular such equipment comprising one or more rotary saw blades. Even more particularly, the invention relates to such equipment adapted to prune or trim the lower branches of bushes or trees, and which are mountable to a tractor or similar powered vehicle.
Fruit bearing plants typically require pruning or trimming to maximize fruit production or to optimize harvesting of the fruit. For example, blueberry bushes having multiple stalks may grow up to seven or eight feet in height and the fruit is often harvested using mechanized shaker equipment. Such harvesting equipment typically incorporates stalk grasping mechanisms having catch pans that are brought together beneath a bush to catch the blueberries that are released when the bush is shaken. It is important to get the catch pans as close as possible to the multiple vertical stalks of the bush in order to minimize product loss. Drooping or low growing lateral branches will sometimes block the catch pans, and therefore it is often necessary to prune the lower branches of the bush to provide unimpeded access for the catch pans.
Pruning the lower branches by hand is a time consuming process for farmers having hundreds or thousands of blueberry bushes. While powered pruners are known, either as stand-alone equipment or as attachments for tractors or the like, the known embodiments suffer certain drawbacks. Equipment that is mounted to a tractor often fails to account for the variation in elevation between the ground level under the row of bushes being trimmed and the tractor pathway, which may be due to ruts, holes or the like in the tractor pathway that create left-right or front-rear tilting of the tractor. If the pruning equipment is mounted in a fixed or rigid manner on the tractor, up and down or side to side tilting movement of the tractor as it moves along the pathway will result in inaccurate trimming. In addition, the known pruning equipment that is adjustable to provide more accurate trimming heights is often complicated and requires the operator to simultaneously drive the tractor and reposition the cutting implements on the move.
It is an object of this invention to provide a powered pruning apparatus that quickly and accurately prunes or trims the lower branches of the bushes and is not adversely affected by variations in ground elevation or surface configuration between the tractor pathway and the ground beneath rows of bushes. Such apparatus is structured as an attachment or accessory mountable to a tractor or similar powered vehicle. It is a further object to provide an embodiment of such an apparatus wherein the height of the pruning blade is adjustable by the tractor operator. It is a further object to provide an embodiment that further comprises a secondary pruning blade that is also height adjustable. It is a further object to provide an embodiment of such an apparatus that further comprises a mulching apparatus that mulches the fallen branches and leaves as the tractor moves along.